Black History Month provides an invaluable opportunity for students to explore Black voices, stories, and experiences that have shaped our world. While Fishtank ELA centers on diverse voices year-round, February can be a focused time to engage students in meaningful discussions about identity, community, and justice.
This month, help students reflect on how Black leaders, artists, storytellers, and everyday changemakers have inspired movements and transformed communities. To help you make the most of this opportunity, we’ve collected some of our favorite texts and units to teach for Black History Month.
Elementary School Highlights:
Across the elementary ELA curriculum, students build their knowledge of Black history through exploring key events, leaders, and changemakers.
In Kindergarten, students begin their exploration with Unit 6: What is Justice?, which introduces key figures like Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King Jr. Students learn how communities organized to stand up to injustice, setting the foundation for understanding the Civil Rights Movement and sparking early conversations about equality and fairness.
Our 1st Grade unit, The Movements for Equality, extends students' learning by exploring multiple equality movements, emphasizing intersectionality. Through narrative nonfiction, students meet trailblazing changemakers like Shirley Chisholm, Kamala Harris, Clara Luper, and Emmanuel Ofosu Yeboah, fostering a deeper understanding of identity in the fight for justice.
The biography-based 2nd Grade unit, People Who Changed the World, introduces students to influential Black leaders in history, such as Barack Obama, Wangari Maathai, and Charles Henry Turner. Students can see how individuals can impact the world by connecting these changemakers’ legacies to their lives. 3rd graders delve into the magic of storytelling with Passing Down Wisdom: Hispanic and African American Folktales. Students explore rich African-American folktales, highlighting the art of oral storytelling to preserve culture and history.
Based on the foundation they have built in previous years, 4th Grade students deepen their knowledge and understanding of American history and the Civil Rights Movement. In Heart and Soul: The Story of America and African Americans, 4th graders dive into United States history, from slavery through the Civil Rights Movement. Grappling with systemic injustices, students reflect on the courage of African Americans who shaped the nation’s history while confronting ongoing struggles for equality. In Young Heroes: Children of the Civil Rights Movement, 5th graders explore firsthand accounts and impactful photographs. They learn how young people significantly contributed to the Civil Rights Movement, empowering them to view themselves as agents of change.
Middle and High School Highlights:
As students engage with more complex texts in middle and high school, they continue to explore the lives and experiences of Black Americans, both in modern and historical contexts. In 6th Grade, students explore The Watsons Go to Birmingham—1963, a novel that chronicles the Watson family’s trip to Birmingham, Alabama, amidst the Civil Rights Movement. Through this book and its supplementary resources—such as nonfiction articles and audio interviews—students enhance their comprehension of the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing and the experiences of African Americans in the 1960s.
The 7th Grade Pursuing Dreams unit focuses on Lorraine Hansberry’s renowned play, A Raisin in the Sun, encouraging students to explore the relationships among race, identity, and the pursuit of the American Dream. This unit now also includes excerpts from The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson, providing students with nonfiction reading about the Great Migration. By analyzing both texts, students gain a deeper understanding of how systemic inequalities, migration, and racial discrimination have shaped individual and collective identities in America.
In 8th Grade, the Facing Prejudice unit challenges students to engage with pressing social issues through the texts All American Boys and Flying Lessons. These stories spark critical discussions about racial injustice and police brutality in the modern U.S., encouraging students to reflect on systemic inequality and how it impacts their communities. After engaging with this unit, we hope students feel better equipped to engage meaningfully with racial injustice.
In the Me, Myself, and I unit, 9th Grade students explore personal identity and race through short texts. This unit examines how race influences self-perception and societal expectations, laying the foundation for deeper tenth-grade studies. Later in the course, students use the core text, The Central Park Five, to explore how power dynamics have impacted Black Americans.
In 10th Grade, students delve into Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Purple Hibiscus as part of the Flowers of Freedom unit. Through the lens of Kambili's coming-of-age story in politically tumultuous Nigeria, students explore themes of power, oppression, and identity. The unit challenges students to critically analyze how family, culture, and government influence personal and societal freedoms.
As we continue expanding our high school curriculum, 11th and 12th Grade students will soon have the opportunity to engage with Their Eyes Were Watching God and Sula. Launching in the 2025-2026 school year, these upcoming units will further challenge students to examine resilience, self-determination, and the complexities of race, gender, and power through the works of Zora Neale Hurston and Toni Morrison.
Black history doesn’t end in February. Our year-round curriculum ensures that students engage with diverse voices, equipping them with the tools to examine history and advocate for justice critically. Stay updated with timely texts and ideas for engaging students throughout the year on the Fishtank Blog.
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